Can AI replace Yado?
KINDA · weekend projectClaude Code was never built to leave the laptop. A chat interface is easy. A terminal into a remote container, also fine. The pain starts when you want Claude, the container, and the app to forget they're three completely distinct entities and behave as one thing: signing in with one tap, when on paper that can only happen in a terminal. A chat, when underneath it is always a terminal. Infra that's fast and that keeps one person's AI away from everyone else's code. I thought that was weeks of work. It was months.
Build me a phone-reachable Claude Code setup to replace Yado. Requirements: - Runs on one always-on Ubuntu box I already own, a $5 VPS is fine. I reach it from Safari on my phone, there is nothing to install on the phone. - Install Claude Code on the box and log it in by hand once over SSH, so the credentials sit on disk and nothing has to handle auth later. This step needs a laptop, say so in the README. - Serve the terminal with ttyd running `tmux new -A -s claude`, so the session survives a dropped connection and keeps working while my phone is locked. - Put Caddy in front for automatic HTTPS on a subdomain, with basic auth credentials read from .env. If I already run Tailscale, bind ttyd to the tailnet address instead and skip Caddy. No accounts, no telemetry, everything stays on my box. - Make it usable with a thumb: start ttyd with `-t fontSize=18`, and write a ~/.tmux.conf with mouse mode on so I can scroll and switch panes by tapping. - Add a Claude Code Stop hook in ~/.claude/settings.json that curls a private ntfy.sh topic, so my phone buzzes when a turn finishes instead of me sitting there watching output. - A `work <repo>` shell function that attaches to the tmux session, cds into ~/code/<repo> and starts claude there. Repos live in ~/code, there is no database and nothing to migrate. - Out of scope: multiple users and isolation between projects. Do not build a chat UI over `claude -p`, that is a far bigger project than this one. - README: the one time SSH login, the DNS record for the subdomain, the ntfy topic name, and an honest warning that if the box goes down there is no way back in from the phone.
$ open in your agent (prompt prefilled, you press enter) or copy it raw
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Because the weekend build is a pet. You keep the box alive, you keep the proxy alive, you patch it every time Claude Code shifts under you, and you pay for a machine that idles all week. Some people like pets, and if that's you, keep it. Yado is the version where none of that is yours. It wakes when you open the app and costs nothing the rest of the time, signing in is one tap instead of an SSH session, and when Claude Code moves, that's my problem now. You still bring your own Claude account. You're paying me for the boring half.
xa real chat with your Claude account instead of a terminal driven by a phone keyboard
xa machine that sleeps at zero and wakes before you type instead of a box you pay for all week
xone tap sign in · the DIY version needs a laptop and an SSH session to log Claude in once
xdiffs you can read on a small screen · screenshots you can paste in · a live preview of the app you are building
xisolation · one box means everything on it can reach everything else on it
Can AI replace Yado?
Kinda. The core of Yado is buildable in a weekend with the prompt on this page, but there are real gaps: a real chat with your Claude account instead of a terminal driven by a phone keyboard, a machine that sleeps at zero and wakes before you type instead of a box you pay for all week. Read the honest list above before committing.
How much does Yado cost?
Yado costs about $9.99/month (Yado Pro, checked 2026-07-30), which is $119.88 per year.
What do I lose by replacing Yado?
Honestly: a real chat with your Claude account instead of a terminal driven by a phone keyboard; a machine that sleeps at zero and wakes before you type instead of a box you pay for all week; one tap sign in · the DIY version needs a laptop and an SSH session to log Claude in once; diffs you can read on a small screen · screenshots you can paste in · a live preview of the app you are building; isolation · one box means everything on it can reach everything else on it. If any of those are load-bearing for you, keep paying.
Is there an open-source alternative to Yado?
Yes — Happy (MIT mobile and web client for Claude Code, self-hostable, but it remote-controls Claude running on a computer you keep on), Moshi (a polished mobile terminal that drives Claude Code over SSH, freemium rather than open source, and the machine it connects to has to be yours and switched on). Using prior art is also a valid exit; the prompt is for when you want it exactly your way.